Run rates at China's 35 refineries average 82.7% in late September

28 September 2012 07:37[Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--?xml:namespace>China’s 35 major refineries are currently running at an average rate of 82.7%, a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points from two weeks ago, according to a survey by ICIS.

The refineries have a combined capacity of 7.26m bbl/day, which accounts for 72% of the total capacity of China’s major refineries.

Sinopec has ramped up production at its 160,000 bbl/day Yangzi refinery to above its capacity, with current run rate at 101%, up by seven percentage points from two weeks ago.

PetroChina, on the other hand, has raised run rates at its 260,000 bbl/day Lanzhou refinery by six percentage points from two weeks ago to 67% currently, according to C1 Energy, an ICIS service in China.

In October, the average operating rates of the 35 major refineries in China are expected to rise to 84-86% as Sinopec facilities are due to come back on stream, market sources said.

Sinopec’s 260,000 bbl/day Tianjin refinery will resume operations on 28 September, while its 100,000 bbl/day Qingdao refinery is due to restart on 20 October, they said.